GeoffShackelford.com

When you realize that a golf club positions the player’s hands 40 inches, more or less, from a ball 1.68 inches in diameter that must be hit precisely after a swing that may take the clubhead on a round trip of as much as 26 or 27 feet, you become aware of the importance of using clubs conforming correctly to your requirements. TOMMY ARMOUR

There’s a little something for everyone in Jonathan Wall’sGolf.com story onTitleist winning the driver and every major club category at the 2019 Sony Open. It was Titleist’s first PGA Tour week win since 2000. These counts don’t mean much to everyday golfers but are of interest to hardcore club junkies and the golf business.

While Wall cautions this is just one week and it’s a long season ahead, the Darrell Survey results did allow Wall to explain a key factor in the surge of Titleist usage. With claims of more speed using the new TS3, players looking for more distance were understandably intrigued. But here’s why players were able to consider the club:

TaylorMade, which won every PGA Tour, World Golf Championship and major driver count during the 2017-18 season, is unlikely to repeat the feat this year due to the significantly reduced Tour-player staff the brand now employs — only five staffers are listed on its website.

TaylorMade’s decision to partly back out of the driver arms race helped Callaway and Ping pick up one “win” apiece during the fall portion of the season; TaylorMade still logged six wins.

Still, just five players?

Coupled with Nike getting out of the club business not too long ago and TaylorMade out of the everyday Tour player endorsement business, it seems there are more free agents than ever. At least when it comes to what’s in the (tour pro) bag.

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RIP His Ownself, Dan Jenkins. The best sportswriter ever. Not often do you get to hang out with your hero, but I did four times a year and consider myself one lucky SOB! Thanks for all the laughs and support over the years, press rooms and media hotel bars will never be the same.

Lefty! @djohnsonpga has a good move left or righthanded

90 years ago at Riviera’s first LA Open the press worked from the clubhouse patio using a telescope and binoculars. This week the @genesisopen media center was a massive operation in between holes 1 & 2 with WiFi, a barista, interview room, TV’s and ShotLink data at our fingertips. Thank you to the staff, volunteers @tgrliveevents @genesis_usa, Brenner-Zwikel team and @pgatour for another great week at Riviera during the 2019 Genesis Open won by J.B. Holmes.